Taming the Lions: What went wrong against Wisconsin, and how Penn State can bounce back moving forward

As the old Molly Hatchet song goes, Penn State’s women’s volleyball team seemed as if it was flirtin’ with disaster.

The now-No. 4 Nittany Lions took a bit of a roller coaster ride to a 13-0 start in Big Ten play, with some dominating sweeps over ranked teams balanced with a few matches against unranked opponents that came down to the wire.

Last Friday, Penn State traveled to Evanston to take on Northwestern. The four-win Wildcats swiped the first set from the Nittany Lions, and Penn State then had to scratch and claw its way to an eventual four-set victory. That triumph also included a wild third set that went beyond 25 points.

It is true that from top to bottom, the Big Ten is one of the toughest – if not the toughest – conferences in college volleyball. With that said a close call against a 4-16 opponent may have been a red flag for what was to come.

On Saturday, Penn State ran into a buzzsaw in Madison. The then-No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers took a tightly fought first set from the Nittany Lions before completely shutting down Penn State throughout the remainder of the match.

A 13-0 Wisconsin run early in the second set seemed to deflate all of the energy that the blue and white brought to the UW Field House. When all was said and done, Wisconsin scored twice as many points as Penn State over the second and third sets and hit a remarkable .465 for the match as a whole.

So it begs the question, what went wrong for Penn State on Saturday? How can a team that had won 15 straight matches – including four against ranked opponents – struggle as mightily as they did last weekend? And how can the Nittany Lions respond with matches against Illinois and Maryland on the horizon?

There are plenty of different directions to go with this, but here are two key things that Penn State struggled with last weekend and will need to improve on down the stretch run of the season.

Penn State had no answers for Wisconsin’s block

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. On Saturday, Wisconsin racked up 11 blocks in three sets against the Nittany Lions. That’s 3.67 blocks/set. I did the math so you didn’t have to.

Meanwhile, Penn State couldn’t muster a single stuff throughout the contest.

Now, it’s important to contextualize this with the caveat that the Badgers are big. Like, big with a capital “B.” Starting middle blocker Carter Booth checks in at 6-foot-7, and right side/middle blocker Anna Smrek stands at a ridiculous 6-foot-9. With Maggie Mendelson at 6-foot-5, Taylor Trammell at 6-foot-2, and setter Izzy Starck standing at 6-foot-1, it wasn’t exactly a fair fight.

But that doesn’t make Penn State’s lack of success less of a concern. On top of being without the blocks on the defensive end, Penn State struggled to operate its offense against the Wisconsin net defense.

Often, the Nittany Lions had to resort to tip or roll shots to get the ball over the Badgers’ block. Any challenges of the block often saw the ball come back down on Penn State’s side, and Wisconsin’s presence at the net forced the Nittany Lions to miss several balls out of bounds as well.

It’s true that Wisconsin’s block may be the most menacing in the country – and will be the best one Penn State faces the rest of the regular season.

But life doesn’t exactly get easier for Penn State moving forward. Illinois middle blocker Ashlyn Philpot just won Big Ten Freshman of the Week for her performance out of the middle last week. And Penn State still has a matchup looming later in the season with Raven Colvin and No. 8 Purdue.

Penn State will need to get its attack against the block and its block defense back on track this weekend in order to have success.

Penn State’s offense lacked the balance it needed to be elite

Across two matches last weekend, All-American Jess Mruzik took 100 swings for the Nittany Lions. That’s a lot. And maybe for Penn State’s offense to operate at its best, it’s too many.

Listen, Mruzik has shown that she can put the team on her back when necessary to score points. The graduate hitter has two separate performances this season of 29 kills and contributes in many ways as a six-rotation player for Penn State.

It’s also worth noting that in matches where Mruzik has less than 10 kills, Penn State is 2-2 this season. The two wins were against Temple and Princeton, where Mruzik only played one set in each match because Penn State was still thoroughly in control without needing to have her on the court. The two losses, of course, are Penn State’s only losses of the season, to Pitt and Wisconsin.

But with all that being said, Penn State’s best offensive performances this season have been in matches where the attack has been more balanced.

Let’s use the example of Penn State’s early-season win over then-No. 4 Louisville, where the Nittany Lions hit .358 over the course of that three-set sweep. In that match, Mruzik had 13 kills on 30 swings. Caroline Jurevicius had 11 kills on 23 attacks and Camryn Hannah had eight kills on 16 swings.

On Friday against Northwestern, Mruzik took 60 swings and Hannah took 44, while Jurevicius only took 10. Then against Wisconsin, Mruzik had 40 attacks with Hannah next closest behind at 24.

When Mruzik attacks the volleyball, good things usually happen. But against the elite teams in the country, it may not be enough. Penn State needs consistent offensive distribution and production from its three primary pin hitters and its two middles in order to get back into the win column and continue its quest for a national championship.

Kasey Kreider is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email kmk6865@psu.edu.